Chitose to mo nani ka inoran ura ni sumu tazu no ue o zo miru bekarikeru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

千年ともなにか祈らんうらに住む
鶴の上をぞ見るべかりける

Roma-ji: Chitose to mo nani ka inoran ura ni sumu tazu no ue o zo miru bekarikeru
English Translation: A thousand years—why
should I pray for that at all?
On the back it dwells:
I need only look upon
the crane that lives on the shore.
Meaning: Why pray for a thousand years at all? I need only look at the crane that dwells on the back of the mirror, as on the shore.
Commentary: Book Five Celebration Poems 298

Headnote: "When I had a mirror cast and had the figure of a crane cast on its back"
When a mirror was cast with a crane on its back, the poet says there is no need to pray anew for a thousand years; one need only look at the crane dwelling on the mirror's back. Overlaying the crane of the shore with the crane on the mirror's back, she embeds the blessing that each look in the mirror promises a thousand years. According to the headnote, it was composed when she had a mirror cast and had the figure of a crane cast on its back.
Ise was a woman poet of the early to mid-Heian period and a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage. She served Onshi, consort of Emperor Uda, and became the mother of Nakatsukasa. She is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "chitose to mo," means "even for a thousand years." The first line of 270 in this book is the same "chitose to mo," sharing the conceit of setting aside the prayer for a thousand years.
Second line, "nani ka inoran," means "why should I pray," with "ka" a rhetorical questioning particle resolved by the attributive "n." The poem pauses here.
Third line, "ura ni sumu," plays on "ura" as the back of the mirror and as the shore where cranes dwell.
Fourth line, "tazu no ue o zo," means "the life of the crane," referring to the crane's thousand-year span. It follows the cranes of 265 and 284 in this book.
Final line, "miru bekarikeru," means "I should have looked," with "zo" resolved by the attributive "keru." "Miru" (to look) is an associated word for the mirror.
Author: Ise
Source: Shui Wakashu
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